Coach Bavaro and his varsity Bruin football program hosted a picture-perfect setting for some local High School football under the lights Friday night hosting the 1-1 Rogue River Chieftains.
In their last meeting in 2018, the Bruins traveled to Rogue River and handed the Chieftains a 29-0 loss. Undoubtedly looking to avenge last years at home loss and return the favor to the hometeam Bruins, a fired-up Cheiftain team took the field.
But what no one expected was the Peyton Armentrout show in the first 2:00 minutes of the game. After the Chieftains received the opening kick off, junior defensive back Peyton Armentrout #6 recovered a fumble with 10:15 left in the first period. Just 45 seconds later Armentrout was taking the ball into the endzone, starting Bruin scoring and putting the Bruins up 7-0.
After recovering a mishandled punt by the Chieftains, starting Bruin quarterback, senior Ethan Hooper #10, then threw a swing pass to senior wide receiver Conner Christensen #30 who then out ran the Chieftain defense to the endzone giving the Bruins a 14-0 lead.
Both teams battled for control at the line which slowed the pace of the game as both teams attempted to establish a successful running game, to run ball control and to run the clock. The Bruins senior running back Manny Zamora #26 had 2 touchdown’s on the night, both on the same called play, just opposite sides of the line. “Manny Zamora has really given us the power running game we lacked last year.” said Coach Bavaro. “I thought we had great efforts from both of our lines up front tonight” coach Bavaro said after the game.
The Bruin defense refused to relent and junior Derek Tuttle #42 sacked the Rogue River quarterback. Bruin quarterback Ethan Hooper would be picked off, giving the Chieftains a chance at a 45 yard sweep play, putting the Chieftains on the board, 14-6.
“Our kids got the job done tonight and finished the second half, but we have to continue to improve this week in practice. We will need more than a half of playing at a high level to compete with Lakeview.” said Coach Bavaro after the game.
Again the Bruins new ‘Win Now” was obvious to see as the team finished the later moments of the game extending their lead ultimately to 42-18. Sitting at 3-0, The Bruins will be on the road next Friday to challenge the Lakeview Honkers in Lakeview at 7:00 pm.